Biden will allow legal status to lapse for migrants from four countries

WASHINGTON – The Biden administration said Friday it would allow the temporary legal permission for migrants from Cuba, Venezuela, Haiti and Nicaragua to lapse, forcing hundreds of thousands of people to find other methods to stay in the country or face deportation.

The decision comes nearly two years after the Biden administration began a program allowing migrants from those four countries to apply to stay in the United States for two years, as long as they had a financial sponsor and passed background checks.

The program was designed to discourage people from sneaking into the country by giving them a legal way to enter the United States. Now, the administration said migrants cannot extend their stay under the program, according to an update on the Homeland Security Department’s website.

“This two-year period was intended to enable individuals to seek humanitarian relief or other immigration benefits for which they may be eligible, and to work and contribute to the United States,” Naree Ketudat, a department spokesperson, said in a statement.

New applicants from the four countries will continue be accepted.

Similar programs for Afghan and Ukrainian migrants allowed them to extend their stays.

The change highlights the long-term challenges of programs that never offered a permanent path to remaining in the United States. It also comes as political pressure mounts to cut down on so-called parole programs that allow people to enter for a short period without a visa or green card.

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have been attacked for policies seen as too lax on immigration, making the issue a major vulnerability for Harris as she pursues the presidency.

Republican lawmakers have particularly railed against the program as a way to allow into the United States migrants who would not have otherwise qualified to enter the country.

Since the program’s early days in the fall of 2022, during a moment of high crossings at the southern border, hundreds of thousands of people have arrived from the four countries.

The impact of Friday’s decision depends on a person’s nationality.

Migrants from Haiti and Venezuela will have a chance to remain without fear of being deported through the Temporary Protected Status program, which also offers them work permits. Venezuelans who arrived before July 2023 can qualify for TPS, and Haitians who arrived before this summer can also qualify.

Cuban migrants have an opportunity to gain a green card with the Cuban Adjustment Act, a 1966 law that allows certain Cubans to apply for permanent residency while they are in the country.

But the nearly 100,000 migrants who arrived from Nicaragua through the program could be in a particularly difficult position.

They will not have a clear path to temporary protection and must obtain another way to stay in the country legally, such as asylum. The decision to not offer another grant of temporary stay could put pressure on Harris, if she wins in November, to offer some form of protection to the migrants.

The Biden administration previously allowed those from Ukraine and Afghanistan who were provided temporary entry into the United States to apply for another round of parole, allowing them to remain in the country with another round of temporary grants of stay.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.